Cold snap to continue

The Ojai Valley will get a chance to dry out over the next few days, but don’t expect the chilly temperatures to go away anytime soon.

Ojai recorded a low temperature of 33 degrees Feb. 18 and a high of 56. Rose Valley, 7 miles north of Ojai, saw an overnight low of 31 and a high of only 42 degrees.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures across the area will stay well below normal the next several days, with highs struggling to reach the upper 50s. Normal highs for this time of year are generally in the mid 60s to near 70.

Overnight lows will be at or slightly above freezing. For the evenings of Feb. 18 and Feb. 19, the NWS may issue frost advisories or freeze warnings for Ventura County’s inland valleys.

Well-known artist Nancy Whitman, 89, found safe after wandering from house Feb. 16

Bill Slaughter, left, captain of Upper Ojai Search and Rescue, debriefs members of the team who rallied at Summit Elementary School in Upper Ojai in response to the report that Nancy Whitman, 89, was missing Saturday morning from her Koenigstein Road home. She was found about 10:15 a.m., shortly after a VC Alert message was sent to area residents at 9:58 a.m. Pictured, from left, are Slaughter, Luke Riley, Kyle Hancock, Brandon Nichols, Noel Kiesewetter, Kim Perlmutter, Mary Looby and Mike Weber. Also responding, but not in the photo are brothers Brook and Josh Belgum, Roger McDivitt, Bill Carey and Cliff Hultgren.

Boil order: 1932 water main breaks

Crews from Casitas Municipal Water District repaired a water main break Feb. 13 in Ojai that prompted a boil water notice for portions of the surrounding neighborhood.

The leak was reported around 1 a.m. at Grand Avenue and Fulton Street, in the main pipe that runs water across the city, according to Michael Flood, CMWD general manager.

“Crews started very early in the morning and worked all day long,” Flood said. “They got the bad piece of pipe out of the ground and put in a section of new pipe.”

Repairs were completed and the line was pressurized by early evening, he added. “We did have a handful of customers that were actually out of water, but they were all back in service by around 6 p.m.”

In addition, about 250 customers were affected by a boil water notice issued by Casitas, the State Water Resources Control Board and the Ventura County Health Department. “That was out of an abundance of caution,” Flood said.

The affected area included upper neighborhood portions north of Grand Avenue, between North Montgomery Street and Mercer Avenue, centered on Pleasant Avenue.

City Council wants fewer commissioners

At its Feb. 13 meeting, the Ojai City Council voted to direct staff to introduce an ordinance to reduce the Planning Commission to five members from its current seven with a two-year term, and allow each council member and mayor to appoint a commissioner. This would be accomplished by attrition. There would also be a set number of allowable absences of four per year, with the council to consider removal of commissioners who have more absences than that.

The motion was approved 4-1, with Councilwoman Suza Francina dissenting.

Francina was in favor of keeping the commission at seven members. “As far as the absences go, I personally don’t understand why we’re even butting in,” Francina said, noting that, in her opinion, having a quorum is what matters. “If they have so many absences and they actually have lost interest, they quit,”she added.

Matilija Dam's impact on fish highlighted

Matilija Dam was included Jan. 29 in California Trout’s list of dams that are ripe for removal, in an effort to stop what the group called a “statewide fish extinction crisis.” CalTrout’s “Top 5 California DAMS OUT Report” highlights five dams the nonprofit advocacy group has deemed “prime for removal in the Golden State” because they’re most hazardous to fish.

The other four listed dams are Rindge Dam on Malibu Creek, Searsville Dam in Redwood City, Scott Dam in Lake County and a group of three dams on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County. CalTrout identified the dams as key for removal after analyzing data from several studies aimed at assessing the overall benefits to fish, water and people. “The top five dams identified in the report provide only marginal value for people, while their removal would provide significant ecosystem and economic benefits,” CalTrout said.

On Feb. 12, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support up to $6 million in grant funding for part of the project to restore the Matilija Dam ecosystem. The project is designed to replace a bridge over the Ventura River at Santa Ana Boulevard with a wider, higher bridge.

Cities cash in on cannabis taxes: Ojai is not one of them

As cannabis continues to be a hot topic, the Ojai Valley News surveyed other cities in Ventura County and the cities of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, to see how they are handling the statewide 2016 Adult Use Marijuana Act, legalizing recreational use of marijuana in California.

After the 2016 state initiative passed, municipalities scrambled to create their own ordinances regulating cannabis to avoid the state setting the rules. To date, Ojai and Port Hueneme are the only Ventura County cities where recreational marijuana sales are allowed.

Three recreational marijuana storefronts are open in Ojai, four in Port Hueneme, three in Santa Barbara and one non-storefront in San Luis Obispo.

Five inches of rain drop on Ojai

The mountains above Ojai are on track to receive up to 5 inches of rain from a series of storms that will linger into the weekend.

“The next couple of days, it will stay unsettled,” National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt told the Ojai Valley News.

The first system that arrived Feb. 13 brought only light showers, which developed overnight into moderate to heavy rainfall — an “atmospheric river,” Boldt said — with gusty winds and a few booms of thunder on Valentine’s Day.

Rainfall totals from this second system were expected to be in the 1.5- to 3-inch range, with locally heavier amounts in the mountains. A flood watch was put in place for the Ventura River Feb. 14, while a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the Ventura Beach RV Resort the night before.

Born in 1919, she entered a world that had just fought the First World War. Woodrow Wilson was president and Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were kings at the box office.

Since that day, the world hasn’t slowed down and neither has this centenarian, not much anyway.

Perrault will celebrate with family and friends at Ojai Valley Community Hospital’s Continuing Care Center, where she’s resided since 2018.

Raised in Newport, N.H., by Polish immigrant parents, Perrault didn’t learn English until first grade. As an adult, she moved to Massachusetts, got married and had two children. Her husband died of a stroke at age 35 and she never remarried.

Seeking a warmer climate, Perrault got a job in the late ’60s as a dorm mother at Happy Valley School. “And that’s how we came to Ojai,” said daughter Michele, who was in high school at the time.

Ojai council backs wildlife corridors

The Ojai City Council voted Feb. 12 to back a recommendation by the Ventura County Planning Commission regarding a proposed wildlife corridor overlay zone in unincorporated county areas.

On a 5-0 vote, the council authorized Ojai City Manager Steve McClary to sign the letter of support to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors are scheduled to consider the proposal at their March 12 meeting.

Upper Ojai resident John Davis was the only speaker during the public hearing. He expressed surprise that the council chambers weren’t packed, unlike the 11-hour-long Planning Commission hearing Jan. 31 that was standing-room only. At the hearing, many speakers argued the proposal violates the rights of property owners.

OUSD picks Summit School committee

At its Feb. 13 meeting, the Ojai Unified School District Board approved 11 Summit Elementary 7-11 Committee members, chosen from 28 applicants. The committee is called 7-11 because it has to include no fewer than seven and no more than 11 members.

Superintendent Andy Cantwell said about the selection process: “What you’ll see is actually six of the 11 have strong connections to the Upper Ojai community, whether or not it’s with Summit School, with Rock Tree Sky, the Upper Ojai Council, longtime residents, grandparents of former Summit students. We certainly tilted toward making sure the various stakeholders of Upper Ojai have a voice, but obviously we also felt it would’ve been inappropriate and would’ve been against the spirit of Ed Code had we gone exclusively with Upper Ojai voices because this is a district decision ultimately.”

Alan Greenberg tackles daunting tasks to make community even better

Alan Greenberg says he didn’t go looking for community projects to get behind, they just showed up unexpectedly.

Greenberg, 79, was named a 2018 Ojai Living Treasure last April for his contributions to Ojai Valley School, the Jewish Community Center of Ojai, the Ojai Bridge Club and others.

“When you’re retired, they say, you have to be doing something,” he said. “I’ve never felt that way. I wasn’t doing it to fill a void. It’s just these things fell in my lap.”

Ojai Valley School was Greenberg’s reason for coming to Ojai. He was living in Houston, running a business that bought, sold and rented Caterpillar tractors, and he was looking for a boarding school for his young daughter.

Greenberg started looking around Ojai and loved what he saw. “I loved the tennis atmosphere of the town, the campus atmosphere and the artists. Everything about it was so unique,” he said. In 2002, Greenberg decided to make Ojai his home.

Villanova junior Georgia Schreiner takes first in county poetry contest

Villanova junior Georgia Schreiner and Villanova teacher Julie Hedrick with Ventura County Poet Laureate Phil Taggart at the Ventura County Poetry Out Loud finals Feb. 12 at the Museum of Ventura County in Ventura. Schreiner will go on to compete in the state finals in Sacramento March 10 to 11.

Austin Widger,Ojai Valley News reporter

Villanova Preparatory School junior Georgia Schreiner of Ojai took first place in the Ventura County Poetry Out Loud competition Feb. 12 at the Museum of Ventura County.

Schreiner first competed in the Villanova competition and emerged victorious among her peers, a year after taking second place in the school competition. She went on to compete against Poetry Out Loud finalists from six schools across Ventura County, including Channel Islands High School, Oxnard High School, Santa Paula High School, Oak Park High School and El Camino High School.

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